{"id":23009,"date":"2025-01-03T18:11:36","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T18:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/?p=806841"},"modified":"2025-01-03T18:11:36","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T18:11:36","slug":"colorado-governor-wants-to-privatize-states-workers-comp-carrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2025\/01\/03\/colorado-governor-wants-to-privatize-states-workers-comp-carrier\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Governor Wants to Privatize State\u2019s Workers\u2019 Comp Carrier"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/img\/social\/opengraph\/ij-social-default-1200x630.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<ul class=\"nav nav-tabs tabs tabs-entry\">\n<li class=\"active\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/west\/2025\/01\/03\/806841.htm\">Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/news\/west\/2025\/01\/03\/806841.htm?comments\" rel=\"nofollow\">0 Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"article-content clearfix\">\n<p>Colorado Gov. Jared Polis wants to spin off the state\u2019s stake in Pinnacol Assurance, privatizing the workers\u2019 compensation carrier of last resort to help it make more money and plug government budget holes.<\/p>\n<p>The big idea is that pulling up stakes from the quasi-governmental insurance company would help the state\u2019s ailing budget. The governor is proposing roughly $630 million less in general fund than the current spending plan, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coloradopolitics.com\/news\/gov-jared-polis-seeks-630m-less-in-2025-26-budget-privatization-of-pinnacol-assurance\/article_a3baa0d8-9876-11ef-9d57-131b6645d0c7.html\">reporting from Colorado Politics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"79\" data-revive-topics=\"workers-comp\" data-revive-companies data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>\u201cSpinning it off from the government would allow the state to recoup its investment in the business at a time when budget writers need to fill a budget hole that, as of a Dec. 19 projection, is estimated at $672 million,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/01\/02\/pinnacol-assurance-privatization-jared-polis-colorado-pera\/\">the Denver Post is reporting<\/a>. \u201cThat gap for the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1, would rise beyond $1 billion if lawmakers opt to set aside the entire $350 million mandated for a new law enforcement fund by a successful November ballot initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is the third time in a decade that state leaders have put forth the idea of privatizing Pinnacol. Lawmakers have yet to express enough support or opposition to get a handle on what the proposal\u2019s chances are, possibly want more details before committing to the move, several Colorado media outlets are reporting.<\/p>\n<p>Pinnacol provides workers\u2019 comp coverage to more than 50,000 businesses in Colorado.<\/p>\n<p>Polis\u2019 plan calls for the state to take $100 million a year from the Pinnacol for five years to cover the state\u2019s work in creating the entity<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPinnacol has been struggling with regard to how they can engage with employers in a changing world,\u201d Polis recently told the media. \u201cWe want to make sure that we can future-proof and reform Pinnacol.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A privatized Pinnacol could offer insurance across state lines and sell coverage on the open market for additional revenue to help the carrier remain solvent.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bzn bzn-sized bzn-intext-2\">\n<ins data-revive-zoneid=\"162\" data-revive-topics=\"workers-comp\" data-revive-companies data-revive-block=\"1\" data-revive-id=\"36eb7c2bd3daa932a43cc2a8ffbed3a9\"><\/ins> <\/div>\n<p>Lawmakers created the workers\u2019 comp carrier in 1915 and exempted it from state and federal taxes that other insurers pay to offer workers\u2019 comp policies to all Colorado companies, including those deemed too high-risk by the private market.<\/p>\n<p>Its structure limits Pinnacol\u2019s to selling policies only in Colorado and selling only workers\u2019 comp plans, two restrictions that now are costing the company business, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/tsscolorado.com\/polis-pinnacol-conversion-plan-is-as-much-about-aiding-company-as-it-is-about-balancing-budget\/\">the Colorado business publication the Sum &amp; Substance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagtag\"> <span class=\"tagtag\">Topics<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/workers-comp\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Workers&#8217; Compensation<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insurancejournal.com\/location\/colorado\/\" class=\"btn btn-sm btn-primary tagtag\">Colorado<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll\" data-post=\"806841\">\n<div class=\"article-poll-vote\">\n<p>Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-poll-feedback voted-no\">\n<form class=\"feedback-form\">\n<p>Thank you! 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Jared Polis wants to spin off the state\u2019s stake in Pinnacol Assurance, privatizing the workers\u2019 compensation carrier of last resort to help it make more money and plug government&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[1247,1248,1,1249,1250,9,124],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/colorado-governor-wants-to-privatize-states-workers-comp-carrier.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23009"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}